| |
CRAIG COMMENTS |
Upper House
Wednesday 16 August 2006
With a State Election looming on November 25, members of the Gippsland community must ensure they are fully informed of the changes to the Upper House voting system.
Under a bicameral system - like Victoria - a functioning Upper House plays a crucial role in holding the government of the day to account.
The Upper House has the power to establish investigative committees and has greater ability to consider amendments and have more detailed debate on legislation.
The public rarely have the need to get directly involved in the legislative process. It is not until an individual is directly affected by legislation that they do really experience first hand the shortcomings of our current system, particularly when a Government has control of both houses of Parliament.
The problem with the Legislative Council is that it has constantly failed to protect the interests of Victorians. It failed to protect Victorians from the financial mismanagement of the Cain/Kirner years and also failed to protect us from the privatisation and other reforms of the Kennett government. More recently, the Legislative Council has failed to protect rural communities on a range of Bracks government legislative changes.
In recent memory, no government MLC -- either Labor, Liberal or National -- has shown any real endeavour or action to hold a government to account, of which they are a member. The rigid party discipline that is imposed on members of the major political parties means they cannot perform the role and function of the Upper House as a house of review.
The solution is available under the new proportional representation model to vote minor parties and independents (or at the very least vote below the line) to break the control of the political parties on their candidates and members. Voting below the line has been made easier, as voters are only required to fill in five squares and not the entire card as in the senate.
For the Upper House to truly be a house of review it must be more independent and contain a more diverse representation than the two party system at the moment.
